The Social Entrepreneurship Revolution…

There is little doubt that the internet has created a number of millionaires and opportunities for millions of entrepreneurs as well. However, not all entrepreneurs are interested in making money for themselves. Instead, there is a relatively new breed who want to change the world by rallying support around specific causes. They are known as social entrepreneurs and their numbers are growing by the day.

What is Social Entrepreneurship?

The differences are actually more subtle in terms of the primary purpose of entrepreneurship which is to earn money. Social entrepreneurs do earn money for themselves and to support their families. However, the actual differences are found in the very concept of their overall purpose.

A social entrepreneur is trying to create innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems instead of merely trying to make money. They usually have a specific cause in which they focus their efforts to get people to rally around their point of view. The success of their entrepreneurial efforts helps support their position and gain even more followers to what they are trying to accomplish.

This specific type of entrepreneur is putting the people and planet ahead of their profit margins for the good of everyone. They do this by creating products and services that benefit the people & planet and donate a percentage of their profits to other social entrepreneurship related causes that they deem worthy.

The History of Social Entrepreneurship

The social entrepreneur has actually been around longer than you might at first believe. In fact, the concept of social entrepreneurship goes back hundreds of years, although the modern practice has only recently become popular in today’s society.

Popular examples of social entrepreneurs can be cited starting with Florence Nightingale who founded the first school for nurses and developed many of their modern practices. Robert Owen who founded the influential cooperative movement and Vinoba Bhave, who created the Land Gift Movement in India. These early pioneers in the field of social entrepreneurs created major changes in their society and mostly from humble beginnings. However, their message and purpose was enough to sway millions of people and even change the course of human events.

One of the seminal works in this form of entrepreneurship came with the publication of “The Rise of the Social Entrepreneur” written by Charles Leadbeater. The very concept of social entrepreneurship however is rather difficult to limit as there are multiple ways that it can be defined. In a broad sense, it pertains to the impact on the social scene in terms of improving the human condition, saving the planet or other causes that can be pursued. Michael Young for example was a leading promoter of this particular form of entrepreneurship starting in the 1950s.

The first widespread use of social entrepreneurship occurred in the 1960s when the term first entered the mainstream market thanks to literature that promoted social change during those turbulent times. However, it remained a sub-culture of entrepreneurship for another two decades until it re-emerged in the 1980s when Bill Drayton along with Charles Leadbeater began actively promoting the concept through various means, including the establishment of “Ashoka: Innovations for the Public”.

By the 1990s, the concept expanded even further with the establishment of the School for Social Entrepreneurs and more than 60 other organizations around the world. Currently, these enterprises are growing and thanks to the internet they have found new means to make capital while helping to change the course of human society in their own way.

Social Entrepreneurs in the 21st Century

Today, you can find a myriad of groups and individuals who divide their time with a range of categories that they support with their entrepreneurial efforts. From community enterprises, social services, industry professionals, socially responsible groups and a combination of social and business enterprises, the social entrepreneur is now more active than ever in created change in their community.

Community: These types of enterprises are used to create capital to help empower itself so that they can deal with the issues facing their community in a more responsive manner. Money is power and having the ability to focus the efforts of the community is much easier from a position where capital is present.

Social Services: Here, the professionals of the industry work with a specific sector of society to expand opportunities for individuals and communities alike.

Socio-Economic: These generally include corporations that earn profits, but contribute to non-profit organizations in support of community efforts that promote positive change.

Industry Professionals: Successful individuals who offer their skills, leadership ability and influence to help change communities through their own expertise.

A good example of how one person uses social entrepreneurship to help change their community is Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank. Known as the “Father of Microcredit”, Yunus helped create a revolution thanks to his methods which have helped millions of people around the world in accessing small loans for their efforts. Yunus earned a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his efforts.

The Future of Social Entrepreneurs

Although highly successful, there are inherent issues that are difficult for many social entrepreneurs to address. One of which is the natural expansion of their efforts to cover a wider community which dissipates the results.

In essence, it become far more difficult to make changes when more people become involved or are the focus of the efforts. This is natural because adding new people means adding new ideas which can change the focus or that the original intent simply does not have as big an impact once it has spread to more people.

However, a single social entrepreneur can make astounding changes in their community with their efforts. All that is needed is the focus, training and drive to make their dreams succeed. You can take action today by becoming a social entrepreneur and focusing your efforts on creating a better community for your friends and neighbors. You just need the knowledge to focus your efforts and the persistence to carry them through. You can find all the information needed to start your journey by Clicking Here.

Social Network Marketing… Learning To Do It Right!

Social Network Marketing is becoming one of the most profitable ways of building a business online. Some people are already making significant incomes from it, while others are getting nowhere.

There are a lot of things you need to know in order to be successful when it comes to social network marketing and below I will go over the major ones.

You need a Social Network Marketing Strategy

You always need to keep an eye on the successful people using social network marketing by watching what they are doing. Call it spying if you will but it is the simplest way to discover the reason for their success.

When you make a decision to enter into the realm of social network marketing you have to build your persona first in order to make folks feel like they know, like and most importantly can trust you.

You probably have a personal Facebook page that you interact with your friends and family on. If you’re interested in creating a business on Facebook you need to keep your business life and your personal life separate, and that means building a Facebook page for your business. No one is going to treat you seriously if your business postings are mixed in with your personal life, for instance posting pictures of yourself and your family at Disney World is fine on your personal page, but not on your business page. If you’re conducting business like that folks will simply not treat you seriously and will not buy what you’re selling. So it is important to brand yourself separately as a valuable business person, and you need to keep your personal and business Facebooking separate.

Social Network Marketing using Video

YouTube is an overwhelming opportunity to earn money online, there are billions of hits on videos every single day, so if you would like to become part of the social network marketing scene, find out how to make excellent videos and brand yourself as the go to person in your niche by being in them.

Get over being camera shy; creating videos just involves some learning and practice. Video has become an essential component of marketing these days; you find them everywhere in emails, on internet sites, in blogs and on other social media sites.

It’s exactly like in the old days of face to face marketing, when folks went out and stood in malls, or invited people to their place for Tupperware parties, when folks see you, like and trust you, then they’ll buy from you.

Social Network Marketing is Attraction Marketing

Even if you post a picture of yourself somewhere, ensure you’re smiling! Hiding behind a Gravatar will do absolutely nothing for personal branding.

Folks want to know you, who you are and what you’re all about. Yes you will get into a little personal stuff when doing business using social networking sites, but keep your personal and business life separate, give folks just enough of you that they will be attracted to you and your business.

Remember most folks looking at your business are looking for the ways you can help them solve a problem they are having. They really do not want to hear you bragging about yourself or showing inappropriate pictures that have nothing to do with the solution to their problem. This is about them not you…

The KEY is to master the art and science of social network marketing for online lead generation. Think attraction marketing.

Think leads. Think branding.

Think about “building a real business” not just a downline.

When you start to know the right way to do social network marketing, you’ll be ready to create enough leads on demand to have a very profitable business and make thousands of dollars in commissions, and you will also be able to enroll a lot more folks than most, by simply having a system that generates online leads using social network marketing.

Relationships are extremely important in any business. It is a very sensitive thing that needs a lot of attention. Your goal is to build a long lasting relationship that is very efficient with its work ethic. You want to make sure the well being of the people is strong depending on how a group or organization works and how it works with management.

Maintaining this efficient and strong relationship can be very stressful especially for the members. Many of these members have no life beyond their work. The work all day and all night just to meet deadlines. It becomes so frustrating that sometimes the emotional suffer and breakdown. Not only will the members suffer but the people and other entities will also suffer.

A society is made up of good relationships that work well with each other to achieve a common goal. To build this effective and efficient relationship, you must begin to understand and respect the other parties feeling and wishes. Each individual plays an important part in creating this relationship. That is why everyone needs to understand and respect one another. Ask the other party their feelings on certain issues, and listen. This will show them they their voice is heard and cared about.

Respect is the key to any relationship. In order to create a more effective relationship, parties should treat each other with respect. We can show respect just by listening to the other party and by trying sincerely to understand how they function. You can also show respect to other parties by confirming that they are doing everything they can. The opposite of respect is quick forming of judgments based on unfounded facts and prejudice. Respect is the very foundation for a great relationship. This also means respecting yourself and respecting others.

Tackling differences among other parties directly is another great way to form effective relationships. Listening to the differences of each party is very interesting. A good way to do this is by listening to both sides of each party’s point of view, then work towards a solution that will make both parties happy. The relationship will be very important to one party, and that party will show extreme effort to understand and find a solution to appease the other party. It may work, it may not work, but at least there is comfort in knowing that the party tried.

To better understand one another, you must listen effectively and do not pre-judge. Having informal discussion is a good way to have parties feel relaxed, clear their minds, and express their feelings in a comfortable manner. Having a calm atmosphere is important when it comes to talking about difference and expressing perspectives. Without expressing what is on a parties mind will ruin the goal of building an effective relationship.

Relationships are made up of many different things such as mistrust, stereotyping, not caring about another party’s feelings, etc. Relationships are important to everyone and within every relationship are a problem that must be addressed in order to further create a relationship or else it will never get better, but spiral down into nothing.

Owning your own home based business is difficult enough without having to be worried about finding the perfect balance of marketing strategies. Stick solely to traditional marketing strategies and you’ll discover that you are potentially missing a huge demographic.

Attempt to milk the internet for all it’s worth and you’ll end up completely overwhelmed by the number of tools and application readily available for internet marketing. But what if you used social media sites as a happy medium between traditional and hard-core Internet marketing strategies? Using this one tool might make an enormous difference in your business without overwhelming you altogether.

Here are 5 ways to get started using social media in your marketing strategy.

1. Create a Strategy. Your competitors have already created a strategy for using social media, so odds are you’re currently behind. This means thinking intentionally about utilizing social media instead of randomly opening an account here and joining a group there. Spend some time identifying the types of sites available and evaluating what part they could have in your marketing strategy. Then make a plan to use them consistently and effectively. If you just “go with the flow” you will be wasting your time and effort.

2. Brand Building. Social media marketing is like having one enormous announcement advertising your company. Everything you post, every tweet you write, and every comment you make should be treated as an opportunity to show your audience what your business is all about, what you value, and what you stand for.

The first step to think about is creating a company blog. Chances are you have employees who are already associated in social media in some way, so ask them to post some articles to the blog. Make sure your blog includes your logo, a picture of yourself, and any other tools that will help you promote your brand. Use your company’s colors as background on your blog and as wallpaper on your Twitter profile.

3. Choose Wisely. Don’t think that you have to use every single social media site available. Stay with a few and spend time using them to your benefit. Choose sites that help you interact with your target demographic. This should help you show off the aspects of your business that interest potential customers and that will be most helpful in connecting potential customers to your business.

4. Find the Correct Balance. Social media is so popular that it might initially be a challenge to find the right balance between it and traditional marketing strategies. Ultimately, they should all work together to serve your business successfully. Start with LinkedIn and create a business profile where you can post testimonials and make contacts with your customers. Then create a Facebook group tied to your industry or product.

Finally, use Twitter to generate a village of people with curiosity about your industry. Connect traditional strategies with online strategies by printing your Twitter ID on business cards and create a place on your website that shows visitors where they can connect with you using social media.

5. Mobility. Many platforms allow you to communicate instantly by downloading applications to your phone. Imagine what you could do as a business owner attending a conference. Sharing with your readers what you are learning, as you learn it, is a great way to build connection with and interest in your customers. Overwhelming or not, young people are exchanging information and making decisions based on social media sites.

If you’re interested in connecting with them as they age, obtain more discretionary income, and spend money on things that interest them, then you need to learn a way to connect with them now. And you need to ensure you’re defining your business online instead of waiting for others to define you in your stead. Get connected online and let the world know who you are.

Owning your own business is difficult enough without having to worry about finding the perfect balance of marketing strategies. Stick solely to traditional marketing strategies and you’ll find yourself potentially missing an enormous demographic.

Try to milk the internet for all it’s worth and you’ll find yourself completely overwhelmed by the number of tools and application readily available for internet marketing. But what if you used social media sites as a happy medium between traditional and hard-core Internet marketing strategies? Using this one tool might make a huge difference in your business without mind-boggling you altogether.

Here are 5 ways to get started using social media in your marketing strategy.

1. Create a Strategy. Your competitors have already created a strategy for using social media, so odds are you’re already behind. This means thinking intentionally about utilizing social media instead of randomly opening an account here and joining a group there. Spend some time identifying the kinds of sites available and evaluating what role they could have in your marketing strategy. And then make a plan to use them regularly and effectively. If you just “go with the flow” you will be wasting your time and effort.

2. Brand Building. Social media marketing is like having one enormous announcement advertising your company. Everything you post, every tweet you write, and every comment you make should be treated as a chance to show your audience what your business is about, what you value, and what you stand for.

The first step to think about is creating a business blog. Chances are you have employees who are already associated in social media in one way or another, so request that they post some articles to the blog. Be sure your blog includes your logo, a picture of yourself, and any other tools that will help you market your brand. Use your company’s colors as background on your blog and as wallpaper on your Twitter profile.

3. Choose Wisely. Don’t feel like you need to use every single social media site available. Stay with several and spend time using them to your benefit. Choose sites that help you connect with your target demographic. This will help you showcase the components of your business that interest potential customers and that will be most helpful in connecting potential customers to your business.

4. Find the Correct Balance. Social media is really popular that it might initially be difficult to find the right balance between it and traditional marketing strategies. In the end, they need to all work together to serve your business effectively. Start with LinkedIn and create a business profile where you can post testimonials and make connections with your customers. Then create a Facebook group associated with your industry or product.

Finally, use Twitter to generate a village of people with curiosity about your industry. Connect traditional strategies with online strategies by printing your Twitter ID on business card and create a place on your website that shows visitors where they can connect with you using social media.

5. Mobility. Many platforms allow you to communicate instantly by downloading applications to your phone. Imagine what you could do as a business owner attending a conference. Sharing with your readers what you are learning, as you learn it, is a great way to build connection with and interest in your customers. Overwhelming or not, young people are exchanging information and making decisions based on social media sites.

If you’re interested in connecting with them as they age, obtain more discretionary income, and spend money on things that interest them, then you need to find a way to interact with them now. And you need to ensure you’re labeling your business online rather than waiting for others to define you in your stead. Get connected online and let the world know who you are.